


The Great Divide Chapter 19: Breakdown

by Antigravity_Carnivore



Series: The Great Divide [19]
Category: Breaking Benjamin (Band), STARSET (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Computers, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gay, Gay Male Character, Heavy Angst, Homosexuality, Inspired by Music, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Musicians, Rebellion, Science Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 00:21:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13422732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Antigravity_Carnivore/pseuds/Antigravity_Carnivore
Summary: The countdown begins to the end. Thomas Bell re-enters the F.E.C. base to find his friends, but after stumbling on some new information, he begins to question their loyalty. Lizzie and Aaron begin their assault on Burnley's base, but are they too late to prevent him from coercing Brock into murdering Benjamin?





	The Great Divide Chapter 19: Breakdown

As much as she tried, Lizzie could not sleep. After Aaron had left her alone, she slipped down into the soft, blissfully comfortable layers of blankets on the bed and pulled them up over her shoulders. Closing her eyes, she thought about everything that had happened and how much her simple world had changed and suddenly become so complicated. She missed the everyday monotonous work in the medical ward of the Messengers, as well as the sweet anonymity that came with it. She could have easily spent the rest of her life blending in, being part of the masses and not being noticed except for one simple fact, and that was that she fell in love with Thomas Bell and her whole world changed.

A light sigh escaped her lips as she struggled to shut out the noises outside of her room, here in Dawn, but there was just too much going on both internally and externally for the possibility of any peace and quiet. She promised Aaron that she would lead them back to the F.E.C. base of operations so that they could retrieve Burnley and the information he had, and use it to benefit them, but deep inside, Lizzie knew that her involvement was only because of Thomas, Dustin, Brock and Benjamin. She felt as though it was her own personal duty to see to it that they were brought out safely, before Aaron’s men blew up the base. There had been so many lies and deception in her life, that Lizzie found it almost impossible to trust anyone; and her new friends were certainly no exception. A plan began to form in her mind, which she would have to put into action the moment her feet hit the base if it were to work. Upon arriving with the men from Dawn, Lizzie would take the first opportunity to separate from them and location Thomas using the tracking device that Selene had given her. She explained to Lizzie as they drove away from the F.E.C. base that she had planted it on Thomas secretly in case she needed to find him again quickly, and now it would be her way to find him inside with ease. By now, he should have had ample time to find the others and would be looking for a quick escape. She’d go in, track him down and lead them all to safety of one of the Dawn vehicles and make it out of there before they detonated the base. There was only one small problem; Burnley. He was unstable and highly unpredictable, which could prove a problem for their escape if they were discovered. Getting her friends out was her main priority, and Lizzie knew that she was going against Selene’s wishes, choosing to leave Burnley behind, but it was a risk she wasn’t willing to take. No matter what information he had, he was still a raving lunatic that couldn’t be dealt with or trusted, even on the most base level. There was no proof that he did actually have the information that Aaron and the crew from Dawn wanted, and he was a habitual liar and master manipulator. Lizzie would leave him to be dealt with by the others, and get her friends to safety.

A fleeting memory crossed her mind, of when Burnley’s cold eyes set upon her while she was with Thomas back in the base and she shuddered. There were intense and fixed right on her, not quite looking at her, but looking through her, she was mesmerized and couldn’t move. She was shivering now, and pulled the blankets up tighter around her for warmth.

The frigid coolness made her remember how uncomfortable and hard the metal table was underneath her, and how scared she was when she looked up to the octopus of cables that were shoved deep into her skin, each pulsing and flowing with a different colored liquid. His eyes were on her, gray and emerald orbs tinged with a faint amber color searing right into her soul. What was this memory? This wasn’t the hallway; she was someplace else, alone with Burnley. Was she having another attack or hallucination like she did back in the base? Brock did warn her that it might happen for some time until her body became acclimated back to being fully human again. Taking a breath, she forced herself to calm down and regain control of her own memories, but there was this nagging feeling in the pit of her stomach, that something in her mind wanted her to see this, to become aware of something that did happen to her, it wasn’t a hallucination, this was real. Concentrating, she shut her eyes even tighter and tried to remember.

A sick medicinal smell, the sound of electronic equipment, and the freezing cold temperature of the room all came flooding back to her at once, almost overwhelming her. She opened her eyes and she was there with him, Burnley, alone in that room, but his back was now turned to her, as he silently typed some information into a computer. His silhouette against the bright glow of the monitors looked horrifying and ghastly. Lizzie found herself hooked up to countless devices on a steel gurney and was completely naked. The back of her neck hurt terribly, stinging and sore. Reaching up, she slipped two fingers underneath, just below her hair line and found a series of neat sutures running vertically down the back of her neck, ending between her shoulder blades. The muscles of her spine were tight and taught, like she had overused them. Something had happened to her… had her neck been broken and repaired? Running her fingers through her hair, she felt something sharp and pulled at it, and gazed dully at a rather large chunk of glass that was caught there. Moving her head slightly, she realized that there was more than just one; her hair was full of bits of silver shiny shards running through the layers of her hair. Pulling her hand away, she looked at it and also saw that there were dried bits of blood underneath her nails. Panic set in. What happened to her?

Taking a deep breath, she gripped the metal rail of the bars and pulled herself into a sitting position all at once. He instantly turned around and she let out a whimper. There was madness in those eyes. Burnley kept looking at her, as he reached out and pulled the metal rails down, and they made a loud, clanking noise as they fell away against the bed. Lizzie wanted to run away, to jump up and get as far away from him as she could, but her legs wouldn’t work. Looking down at them, she saw that there were long sets of wires that were inserted into each of the major arteries of both legs, connected to a fiendish looking machine. Her heart sank, she knew what this was; it was part of the Carnivore conversion process. Burnley had saved her life, by repairing her broken neck, and was now going to turn her into one of his mindless monsters. Her mind told her to fight, but her body refused. He had control of most of it now, except for her arms, the process wasn't complete yet, she could still defend herself. Waiting until he stepped closer, she tried not to look at him, at those terrible eyes, fearing that she could give herself away. Tightening her small hand into a fist so tightly that her fingernails cut into the palm of her hand, she waited until he approached her and came to stand directly in front of her. Looking down at her nude body, he showed absolutely no emotion at all, and did not touch her. Confused, Lizzie hesitated for a moment and let her guard down. The lack of expression on his face bewildered her; this man had a history for being a crazed lunatic with an insatiable appetite for flesh and terrible sexual torture and now here she was, face to face with him and he wasn’t doing anything. Perhaps all the rumors weren’t completely true; he wasn’t as bad as they said. After all, he did just save her life.

Lizzie suddenly felt embarrassed and exposed. Even though he didn’t make a move, she didn’t like the way that he was staring at her, with those emotionless eyes, and wanted some modesty. Reaching down, she tried to grab a sheet that was placed near the foot of the bed, but when she did, he immediately grabbed her by the wrist and pulled it away. The feeling of those stone cold fingers gripping her tightly was almost enough pain for her to pass out, but she fought through them and forming a fist again, she lunged at him with every bit of upper body strength that she could. There was a satisfying sound as her knuckles struck his cheekbone, impacting his cool flesh with a unexpected collision of defiance from her small body. Momentarily, he let go of her hand, and she let loose a flying series of punches to his face and upper body, each one filled with desperation and hope to do enough serious damage to knock him out. For several minutes she continued to assault him, until her strength ran out and she was left gasping for breath. Glancing up at him, she could see that her pitiful punches weren’t even enough to bruise his porcelain white skin. Turning away from her for a moment, he returned to the computers and typed in a series of commands, and a strange electric sensation began to buzz through Lizzie’s arms. It ran from her shoulders, right down to her fingertips, making them numb and lifeless. Burnley returned to her again, and she tried to raise her arms up, for another attempt at fending him off, but now they wouldn’t work. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. He had complete control over every part of her now, except for her mind. Extending his arms, he laid his hands on top of each of her thighs, and lightly caressed them for a moment before pushing them open and stepping in close to her. She could feel the heat of his body as he stood in front of her, still so expressionless and emotionally absent. A tear rolled down her cheek as he reached out and put a hand over one of her breasts. Part of her knew what was going to happen and wanted to shut down, check out, do whatever it took to detach herself from the situation, but it didn’t happen. She was going to be forced to endure whatever sick acts Burnley had in store for her, and if he let her life, these would be the memories she would have to live with for the rest of her life. As his cold fingers lay on the warm skin of her breast, she noticed that his touch wasn’t sexual at all, and there was absolutely nothing between his legs that would signal his perverted arousal. Much to her surprise, Burnley leaned forward and kissed her. Not on the lips, on the corner of her mouth, almost as if he was going through the motions but not willing to commit. Confused and frightened, Lizzie could do nothing to stop him as he pressed his fingers against her chest and eased her thin body back down onto the gurney. He turned away and went back to the computers and started to boot up the conversion process. This would be the end of it. She would be turned into a Carnivore, one of the mindless masses, programmed and hard coded into serving the sadistic Burnley as her master. The only saving grace to her entire situation was that he left her intact. There was some saving grace to the man after all. She would disappear into the nothing still keeping her dignity. Looking up at the ceiling now, all Lizzie could think about was Thomas, and what would happen to him now that she was no longer going to be able to watch over him. Brock and Dustin had injured him, and the last memories of the man that she loved were of him lying on the floor, blood gushing from his eyes and ears. She lay in Dustin’s arms, in extreme pain, dying and all she wanted is affirmation from him that somehow, they would find a way to save him. She didn’t know how she knew this, but Lizzie knew that Thomas was special, and needed to live. Prox was his home, his planet, and somehow, he was going to be the one to save it.

After he had finished booting up the program that would wipe her mind, and get her physical body ready for conversion to the Carnivore process, Burnley returned to the side of Lizzie’s bed. She could do nothing but keep her eyes fixed and focused on the ceiling; she didn’t want to look at him. She wanted her last thoughts to be of Thomas, and his sweet, charming face smiling back at her as he pointed to the stars above and told her the name of each. Several moments passed and as she started to feel herself slip away, she closed her eyes and started to whisper. “Sirius, Canopus, Arcturus, Rigel.” Each of the names of the stars brought back a pleasant memory of sitting alone with him under a crystal clear night sky, wrapped in layers of thermal blankets together as the darkness descended. She loved Thomas, but would never admit it to him, fearing that he wouldn't share the same feelings. Silently, she prayed that one day, he would see this and love her in return too.

Lost deep in her own thoughts, Lizzie couldn’t help but to allow a small smile to creep across her lips. It felt good and comforting in this otherwise desolate place of madness to think of Thomas. Sensing movement around her, Lizzie opened her eyes…and wished that she never did. Seeing that she was smiling, Burnley raised an eyebrow and did the most terrifying thing that she could ever imagine.

He smiled back at her.

Instantly, Lizzie started to panic, the serene moments of lucid relaxation all burned away with the terrible amused expression on his face. Pulling something down from just above her head and out of her reach, he leaned in against her absurdly close, letting the full weight of his body rest upon hers, crushing her and forcing the air out of her lungs. She wanted to scream again, she wanted to fight with all that she had left inside of her; she wanted to do anything she could possibly do to get away from this lunatic. As the last waves of human feeling started to wash away from her, she could feel his cold fingers fall upon her bare flesh again for one brief moment… where was he touching her? What was he doing? Thankfully there was no pain at all, only a sense of pressure bearing down upon her with a tremendous force. It made her feel uncomfortable, and was desperate for it to stop. Bringing his other hand forward, Burnley slid a plastic oxygen mask over her nose and mouth. Summoning everything that she could, Lizzie finally managed to scream, but it was muffled by the unforgiving plastic. The gas that was being pumped inside of it started to flow into her lungs and made her feel light headed. Her eyes closed again, as the last bits of her humanity fell away.

Sighing to herself, Lizzie rolled over on the soft bed and curled up into a ball. Brock told her that as she recovered from the conversion process, she’d start to remember things again, but she was unprepared for the severity of them, and wished that she could simply forget them. The memories with Thomas were so beautiful and comforting, and yet they came with a high price, and that was the memories of Burnley and the wicked things he did to her. “He never said a word.” She muttered to herself. Grabbing a handful of the pillow, she turned to bury her face in it, in an effort to make all the hurt and pain go away and then she caught a glimpse of the wedding ring on her finger again. Seeing the gleaming metal band on her finger made her smile, this was Thomas’s promise to her that he would never leave her alone again, and above all else, she believed him. After all, she had to believe in something, or else she would go mad. With this promise, she could put everything else behind her and stand up for herself, never letting anyone take control of her life again. She knew that the ring wasn’t hers, but it didn’t matter, the only thing that did matter was the words that he spoke to her when he slipped it on her finger and the look in his eyes when he said them. Lizzie believed in Thomas, and that was all she needed to keep pushing on. As her eyes remain fixed on the ring, she silently wondered what had happened to Benjamin’s wife. When Lizzie first arrived at the Messengers base, she remembered accidentally overhearing a conversation between Thomas and Ben discussing his past. It was shortly after Ben arrived that they spoke of it in private, and Lizzie happened to be delivering medical reports to his office when she stumbled upon the conversation. Knowing that she should walk away, her fascination with Thomas made her stay and listen, even against her own better judgment. Benjamin explained that Prox wasn’t his home, that he was here looking for something that he had lost. Thomas, seeing the ring on Ben’s finger asked if his family missed him, and at first Ben wouldn’t reply, he seemed to be overcome with emotion and a silence filled the room. Not hearing any sounds, Lizzie peered into the door and saw Thomas put his arms around Ben in an effort to comfort him, and he completely changed, letting his guard down and showing a moment of pure emotion that was so rare for the usual unmovable man. There in in those intimate minutes, he explained to Thomas that his wife was dead, and that his son was ‘lost’. There was just something about the way that he said the word ‘lost’ that gave Lizzie chills. Ben continued to wear the wedding ring to remind him of the life that he had, and once lost. A life that could have been perfect and filled with such hope for the future, but because of his own actions was nothing more than sadness and sorrow. The ring was a symbol that life goes on, and people can change and find their own happiness, if they just have one person who believes in them. That is what Lizzie had. She had someone to believe in her, and she needed to go get him back.

There was a light tapping on her door which startled her. Looking up, she saw Aaron open the door and peer in at her. “Lizzie, it’s almost time. How are you feeling?”

Running her fingertips over the ring, she held it tightly in her other hand. It gave her strength. “I am okay. Couldn’t sleep much though.”

Aaron entered the room carrying a bundle of clothing in his arms. “I kind of figured you wouldn’t, but at least you had the opportunity to get a little rest and reflect on things. You’ve been through a hell of a lot, and probably going to have to go through a lot more. I wanted to give you at least a few moments of peace before the madness starts up again.”

“Peace…” The word lingered on Lizzie's lips. She wanted it so badly, for herself, for her friends, for Prox and now there might be a chance to truly make it happen. It was all resting on Aaron and the crew of Dawn destroying the Everything Machine, which meant that Burnley had to reveal the location, and for that to happen, Lizzie had to lead them to him. They didn’t know the terrible things that Burnley did to people, they didn’t see the countless lives that he ruined with his wicked ways and emotional manipulation. Thinking about his horrible crimes made her sick and she fought her way through a wave of momentary nausea to keep her composure. Burnley had to pay for what he had done. Even though he had the information that Dawn needed, Lizzie knew that Burnley had to be silenced as quickly as possible. Thomas couldn’t find out what happened, if he did, then there was the risk that she could lose everything that she had fought so hard for. Running it over in her head, she knew what she had to do. The memories that had been triggered and caused her to relive those traumatic moments were the cause for a quick change of plans, she wasn’t going to let Burnley leave the F.E.C. base. She would lead Aaron and the others to him, and then at the moment of capture, she would kill him. One shot would be all that it took to end his reign of terror. No one would expect it from her. The information that the Messengers wanted would die along with him, a necessary loss to compensate for what had been taken from her. Prox ‘could possibly’ be saved with the destruction of the Everything Machine, but it wasn’t certain. The only ‘certain’ thing was that she loved Thomas, and he loved her back…and nothing was going to ever keep them separated again. “Yes.” Lizzie said, looking up at the smiling blond man. “Thank you for that, I did need to get some rest. Will we be leaving soon?” she asked.

Walking over to her, Aaron set the clothing down on the table next to her and nodded. “Yes we’ve almost finished with the preparations and should be ready within the hour.” He took a moment and then gave her a serious look. “Lizzie, before we jump right in here and get in over our heads, there is something I want to talk to you about.”

Lizzie tilted her head and gave him a curious look. “Hmm?”

Aaron took a deep breath and came to sit next to her. “The other members of Dawn and I have had a discussion, and we’ve decided that after this is all over, and we’ve taken care of the F.E.C. we would like you and Thomas to remain here with us instead of returning to the Shallow Bay. Now before you say anything, just hear me out… Dawn has been an established base now for a very long time, I know that we’ve kept you confined to this tiny room, but you must know that there is much more to this place that meets the eye. I can’t go into any details at the moment, but I want you to know that it’s safe here, much more so than the Shallow Bay. We have access to many more resources than you can ever imagine. There is plenty of shelter, food and water for everyone. It’s a good place. You would want for nothing. So basically we’re offering you a new home, one in which you can live in peace and safety without being afraid of an attack, or famine.”

There was something about the tone in his voice that she didn’t quite understand. He was trying hard to convince her to stay, almost too hard and she got a bad feeling from it. Deciding that she wasn’t going to play around with games, she would be direct and blunt with him and hope for the best that he would be honest with her as well. “What’s the catch?” she said.

Aaron laughed and shook his head. “We’ve lived so long with the F.E.C.’s lies and deceptions, that it’s hard to tell when someone is being truthful with us… but that’s okay, I understand your doubt. There’s absolutely no catch.” He pointed to the ring on her finger. “We want your family to be part of our family. Selene told us everything that happened, and that Thomas Bell asked you to marry him. If you return to the Shallow Bay, and start your life there, there’s no guarantee that you are going to be happy. Think about it… how many moments have you had alone with him when he’s always been called away because of something that required his attention? There’s so much pressure in being a leader, and it can be quite overwhelming. If you stay here, you won’t have to worry about any of that. You and Thomas can live your lives like normal, regular people. Let us take care of you.”

“What about our friends, Benjamin, Brock and Dustin? I can’t just walk away from them. They are part of us too. She asked.

The pleasant smile found it’s way back to Aaron’s face again, lighting up the room. “Of course they’d be welcome here as well. Lizzie, you have to understand that what we have here isn’t just some small, random outpost in the middle of the desert. We have the technology and power to restore order to Prox and make it a good place to live again, and we want you, and all your friends to be part of that. I am not going to pressure you into making a decision right now, but I wanted to put it out there and give you something to think about.” He stood up and made his way back over to the door. “We’ve lived our lives living in the present, being afraid and scared that we’re going to be captured at any moment and taken away to be converted or devoured. Don’t you think that it’s time that we start to think about the future?”

With those words, he left Lizzie alone with her thoughts. For a long time, she remained there on the bed, staring at the pile of clothing left for her. What she was about to do would change the world, and she knew that she had to find the courage deep within herself to go through with it. Pulling herself to her feet, she undressed and grabbed the fresh clothing provided for her. There was a small mirror on the table and noticing her reflection in it, she picked it up and gazed at her own reflection in it. She looked so different from the meek and timid little girl that she had once been. Dark circles swooped down underneath her blue eyes, making them seem haunted and hollow, and the hair that hung down in front of her face was tangled and scraggly, giving her a gaunt, disheveled appearance. Her hand went down to the wound at her stomach where Selene had accidentally shot her. The stitches were crude and tight, but they were clean and had saved her life. A few more inches and it would have been all over for her. She missed Selene dearly. Lizzie had never known her own mother, but whenever Selene was around, she felt a sense of comfort and belonging, almost as if she was part of her family. She wanted to go back to the Shallow Bay and check on her before they left, but she knew that it was too far away, and they had limited time. A fleeting thought crossed her mind… Aaron was very adamant about Lizzie and Thomas staying with them, claiming that Dawn had better resources than the Shallow Bay, and yet, they had sent Selene back there for medical treatment. Why would they send her to a base with a inferior medical facility when she could be treated here? Something didn’t add up. Lizzie made it a point to ask Aaron about it.

Quickly pulling on the clothing left for her, she dressed as fast as she could, taking a few moments to gather her long hair and pull it back into a tight braid that hung down on her back. The tight fitting clothing had sections of bullet proof armor on the chest and parts of the legs, to cover any major arteries, but was still tight enough for full mobility. Looking back in the mirror, Lizzie felt a wave of confidence running through her. There was no going back now, she was going to go through with this and see it to the end. Lacing up her boots, she glanced up as Aaron came back in the room. “We’re ready to go.” He said to her, giving her a slight nod.

Taking a deep breath, she turned away from the mirror. “I’m ready.”

Aaron walked over to her and stood in front of her. “One more thing before we head out there.” Reaching around behind him, he pulled out a laser pistol from the back of his belt and handed it to her. Lizzie’s eyes widened. He was offering her the weapon that was going to kill Burnley, but he didn't know it. She took a breath and tried not to let her emotions show. Forcing her hand to remain calm, she picked up the weapon and took it from him, noticing how heavy it felt in her hand. Her fingers wrapped around it, feeling the tension of the trigger underneath her index finger. She knew that the next time she pulled it out; she would be pointing it right at a man whose life she was going to end. She never murdered anyone before; he would be her first, but then again, he had taken so much from her, it seemed justified and so right.

Giving her a pat on the arm, Aaron led Lizzie out through a maze of hallways to the docks of the base. As he walked by other members of Dawn, she noticed that everyone that he passed acknowledged his presence with a smile, or a quick hello. They all seemed equally as friendly and open. Unlike Thomas’s home base, and the Shallow Bay, this base was filled with people that were nonmilitary. Children ran around and played amidst the heavy armored vehicles that were parked on the docks, while dogs barked impatiently waiting for a quick game of fetch from their occupied masters. Some of the ladies that walked by were wearing dresses and had their hair perfectly combed, wearing make up. It was very casual. As he led her to their escort, Aaron smiled, noticing her watching them. “See, I told you, we’re not like the other messenger bases, this is our community, our home and you are more than welcome to share it with us.”

The tip of Lizzie’s finger brushed over the hard, cold steel of the weapon in her pocket and she silently wondered if Aaron and the others would try to stop her when she pulled the gun on Burnley. Surely she wouldn’t be able to come back here then, not after destroying their one chance at finding out where the Everything Machine was. Was she willing to give up a future of comfort for her own personal revenge? “I have to think about it.” Lizzie said, keeping her eyes fixed on the movement ahead of her.

“Of course.” Aaron replied, leading her over to a large armored vehicle. Lizzie stared at it, with a open mouth. It was one of the largest land rovers that she had ever seen, completely covered with armor plates and reinforced sides so that it was totally impervious to any enemy attack. A group of six could comfortably ride in it, with extra room for medical supplies and cargo. Aaron gestured to it. “What do you think, nice ride eh?”

“How were you able to build this?” Lizzie asked, running her hand along the side of the cool metal frame. “The materials used for forming these plates haven’t been around on Prox for a long time, they’ve all been mined out years ago by the F.E.C.”

Aaron opened the door for her, waiting for her to step inside. “Like I said, we have resources available to us that other places do not.” Lizzie put her foot on the bottom step and slid in. The inside of the vehicle was roomy, and she was momentarily distracted by the other members of Dawn as they started loading up the back with explosives. “This is a good place, Lizzie.” Aaron said, shutting the door. “We’ve got everything we need here, and you can too, if you just trust us.”

Watching him as he jumped into the driver’s seat, Lizzie was conflicted with emotions. Aaron was being incredibly kind to her, and offering her a chance of a lifetime, but she just couldn’t listen to his reassuring words. Her life and Thomas’s life together couldn’t begin until she took Burnley out. She would have this one chance to do it, to make him pay for everything and prevent him from ever hurting anyone ever again and she wasn’t going to let anything stop her. The gun tucked away in her pocket was going to be exactly what she needed to free herself from the chains that kept her shackled down and afraid. Never again would Burnley ruin a life.

The other members of the assault team climbed into the vehicle with Lizzie and Aaron and soon they were off, driving towards the F.E.C. base. The sun was starting to set down over the horizon, casting the landscape in a eerie, amber glow as they drove onward to their destination. No one spoke a word inside the vehicle; each person was lost in their own thoughts. Even though the sun was going down, it was incredibly hot and humid, and Lizzie was forced to crack open a window to get some air. Leaning out, she looked behind, she could see that there were 10 other escort teams leading them though the desert, the assault on the F.E.C. base was going to be massive, all in effort to capture one man. Feeling the wind in her hair refreshed her, and she closed her eyes for a moment, trying to block out the sound of the engine revving around her. ‘One shot Lizzie’ she whispered to herself, underneath her breath. ‘One shot to change the world. You can do this.’ She slowly opened her eyes and looked to the front seat and saw Aaron looking back at her. 

Thomas walked along the cold, empty corridors in despair. He had no way of knowing which way he should be going to find his friends, or Burnley. Shivering, he struggled to keep moving, cursing to himself for leaving his tactical vest outside. He was too far deep within the base now to go back and get it; time was of the essence now. Every moment wasted here was one where his friends could be in danger, and he couldn’t afford to be mindful of his own creature comforts in exchange for their safety.

After an hour of picking his way through the corridors, Thomas realized that he was now hopelessly lost. Without the GPS tracking device, he had no way of knowing which way to go, or if he was even headed in the right direction. With no distinguishable markings, each corridor and hallway looked the same. The Carnivores that normally would patrol here had built in guidance systems that led them from section to section in their daily routines, and with the enormity of the base, navigating without one was incredibly difficult. Undaunted, Thomas pressed on, trying to retrace his steps and find the coordinates that Selene had left him. Lizzie had taken his communication device with her, and he knew that he had to find someway of contacting the others.

Even more time had passed, and soon Thomas found himself in a desolate and dark portion of the base that didn’t feel right. It was set back off of the main facility and was lacking the harsh overhead lighting that the main base had, replaced with lamps built into the wall that had a soft, soothing glow, which cascaded shadows down to every corner. Lining the walls were a few sealed metal doors, on both the right and left side, each with a keypad lock blinking red in the dim light. Everything was sealed up tight, and Thomas knew that he couldn’t bother with trying to get them open, he had to keep moving. As he proceeded further down the corridor, his eyes came to rest on two dark shapes that were slumped over near the door at the end of the hallway. Slowly approaching them with caution, he could see that they were Carnivores, or at least what was left of them looked like Carnivores. Their genetically altered bodies were mutilated beyond belief, having had their innards ripped out with such force that the gore had splattered high up onto the walls in front of them. The electronic components that wired them into F.E.C.’s data base had been pulled out from their spines and wrapped around their necks, creating a makeshift ligature that had been used to strangle them. Judging by the atrocity of their deaths, Thomas knew that this had to be Burnley’s work. There was no doubt about it at all. These weren’t ordinary Carnivores, they bore the insignia of the CVR, the Civil Vigilance which were the most elite monsters, usually designated for being personal guards of high ranking F.E.C. officers. Glancing up at the door, Thomas’s eyes fell upon the name above the keypad which read ‘B.Burnley.’ These were the private quarters Burnley had set up for himself after he had taken over the base. Reaching down, Thomas grabbed the guns off the deceased Carnivores, slinging one across his back and carrying one in his hands. Suddenly he didn’t feel so vulnerable anymore. The cool steel metal of the weapon comforted him, and gave him confidence so that he could press onward. Moving to continue down the hallway, he stopped for a moment and looked back at the door. He had no reason or time to go in there and rifle through Burnley’s personal belongings, but something told him that it would be a mistake to just walk away.

Gripping the gun tightly, Thomas returned to the door, and much to his surprise found that the lock was flashing green. It had been left unlocked. Looking down at his feet, he carefully stepped past the pools of drying blood leaking from the bodies and out onto the concrete floor and stepped inside. The moment his motion was detected, the lights in the room turned on, illuminating everything at once in a harsh, bright white light that made him shield his eyes for a moment. Waiting for his eyes to adjust, he heard a low humming noise of computer equipment booting up, followed by a eerie silence. Glancing around he could see that the room was enormous, with high walls painted a pristine white color with large shelves lining them from floor to ceiling. Each shelf was back lit with a neon blue light that cast an eerie glow to thousands of vials each filled with a different shade of amber liquid. Walking over to the shelves, Thomas picked up one of the jars and examined it closely. The liquid sloshed around the sides of its container, murky and thick. There was no distinguishing marks on the glass vial except for a small bar code printed on the bottom which had a lot number on it. Slipping the vial in his pocket, Thomas continued to walk through the room and came to the sleeping quarters. Inside the room was a unusually small bed, not nearly large enough for an adult to sleep in. The blankets and pillow were clean and white, which looked like they never been used. The only other furniture in the sleeping room was a small metal stool, something that belonged in a medical facility, pushed up near the head of the bed, and a intravenous stand. Thomas began to shiver; what kind of bedroom was this for a grown man? Surely Burnley could not have been sleeping there, it would have been incredibly uncomfortable. The room gave him a sinister feeling and he quickly retraced his steps and made his way back out to the living quarters, where he found something that piqued his interest.

“Jackpot!” Thomas whispered. Sitting in the center of the room was a large desk, with a computer on it, which he immediately went for, switching the monitor on without hesitation. His eyes widened and he smiled in satisfaction when the desktop flashed across the screen, Burnley did not bother to restrict access to it with a password. One by one, Thomas started clicking on folders, his eyes scanning over document after document, trying to find something that would help him locate Burnley. He found large amounts of research notes relating to the Eden drug, countless trials and experiments documenting the usage and results of each dosage of it, along with highly detailed graphic footage videos of the hapless victims that it had been used on. Clicking on video after video left him feeling sick and disgusted in the atrocities that were happening to these innocent people all in the name of science. Most of the victims had one or two files with their names on it, their lives had been cut short and ended abruptly with the introduction of the drug into their system. They all gone mad and either had some sort of mental episode, suffering from an intense brain aneurism that ultimately killed them, or the mental instability caused them to inflict bodily harm on themselves, in some of the most brutal ways possible. It was a chilling thing to watch; seeing all these people driven past the brink of insanity, broken and destroyed by the hands of some maniacal power hungry corporation. Seeing enough, Thomas moved the mouse to close the folder, and then his eyes caught on one last set of videos. They were marked, ‘B.Burnley’. Thomas needed ammunition against Burnley, and he knew that it might possibly be in that folder, but he hesitated to open it. The man was a monster, plain and simple. If he viewed those videos and they put doubt in his mind… Sighing, Thomas pressed play on the last video of the sequence and watched the scene unfold before him.

The camera was set up in the corner of a lab, as a young man was brought in. He was thin and pale, looking like he hadn’t slept in ages. Two Carnivores brought him into the room and threw him harshly in a chair, strapping his ankles and wrists down with leather straps. He didn’t fight back, or fuss at all, just simply sat back and rested his head against the chair. For a moment his gray-green eyes focused on the camera lens and Thomas could see that it was Burnley, but not the cold hearted animal that he was now, rather a very defeated and worn out young man who had been the victim of countless hours of abuse and neglect. There were two white coated scientists in the room, one with his back toward the camera, the other near the chair with a binder in his hands. He stepped in front of the camera, blocking off the view and cleared his throat. “Due to the pressure from the administration, we are forced to step up our research on the Eden drug and produce results as soon as possible. So far all the tests on the prisoners taken from the Messenger bases have been failures…and as a result we’ve decided to take matters into our own hands and use the drug on the only candidate that we’ve been forbidden to utilize. We feel as though because of his unique genetic structure, not being a native of Prox, it might affect him differently, however since we are unable to get authorization to do so, we are doing this independently and feel the results will be justified.” The man held the binder he was holding up to the camera. “The exact chemical compound for this version of the Eden drug has been calculated according to instructions from the Prox Transmissions document that we have been given. Our anonymous benefactor has provided us with everything we feel we need to make this our very first successful experiment.” He turned around and set the binder down and gestured to the other man. “Is everything ready Dr. Browning?”

“Yes. Let’s do this.” Browning nodded and pulled the plunger of the syringe back, filling it with the amber liquid. The other man took the camera off the tripod and circled around in front of the young man strapped down to the chair, pointing it at him. “I am sorry to do this to you, but you have to understand that they want results, and if we don’t get them, then it’s our heads. Look on the bright side, if this doesn’t work, at least then you will be dead, and at peace. I know the terrible things that have happened to you, and I am sorry that I wasn’t able to stop them. In death, they won’t be able to touch you anymore.” He looked at the young man sitting calmly before him, trying to read the expression on his face, or understand what he was feeling, but all he was met with was cold, glaring eyes. Annoyed that his words had fallen on deaf ears, Browning grabbed Burnley’s arm, quickly drove the needle deep into the skin and injected every single drop of the chemicals into the young man’s veins. The camera panned back, as Burnley kept his eyes focused on the doctor. He didn’t appear to be angry or upset, but instead he seemed a little sad. A few moments passed as the drug slowly dispersed through his bloodstream and then he started to laugh… a quiet, subtle chuckling at first, and then as time passed, it became more and more maniacal. The man with the camera continued to film as Burnley’s shoulders slumped and his head dropped, and then with all his might, he flexed his arms and ripped the leather straps right off the chair. His laughing turned to screams of rage as he slowly stood up, and Dr. Browning took off out of the room and down the hallway calling for the Carnivores to come subdue him. The camera man stood helplessly as Burnley rose from the chair and with a casual fluid movement of one arm, flung him across the room, causing him to drop the camera. It continued to film as he then tried his best to get up and escape, but Burnley was too fast and grabbed hold of the man, pinning him up against the wall and leaning in close to him. The frame was cropped and crooked, with only a small portion of what was actually happening visible, but he could hear the distinct gurgles from the man’s throat as Burnley bit into it, sinking his teeth into the flesh and pulling a chunk of skin and nerves out with a violent flourish. Turning around back to the camera, he spit the lump of fat out and it landed right in front of the lens with a disgusting audible plop. Behind him, the doctor’s body dropped down and blood poured out of the gaping hole in the middle of his throat. Burnley bent down and looked right into the camera and smiled a bone-chilling smile that would be his trademark sadistic grin.

As he watched closely, those gray-green eyes of the young Burnley flashed and sparked with color as little flecks of amber appeared on the irises and his skin took on a ashen white tinge to it. He took a moment to wipe the blood off his mouth and chin with the back of his arm and then stopped for a moment, breathing deeply. The look of rage on his face was fading, replaced with panic as a wave of intense pain radiated out from his chest, and he dropped to down to his knees. The palms of his hands hit the concrete floor, and his shoulders and neck hunched over as he struggled for each and every breath. Each beat of his heart was more painful than the last as the Eden drug flowed through his veins and the poison raced through his system. All his momentary strength was starting to ebb from him, taking his life along with it. He fell backwards onto the floor and clutched at his chest with his fingertips, his entire body entering a stage of violent seizures, foam forming at the corner of his lips. 

The group of Carnivores rushed into the room, surrounding him and holding him down as the spasms forced his muscles to contract over and over again, pitching it several inches off the floor. Burnley’s sightless eyes rolled up into his head and his mouth was open in a silent scream of saliva and froth as Dr. Browning walked back into the room. His fingers twitched slightly, trying to reach out for the Doctor, who slowly made his way over to the dying boy at his feet. Kneeling down, Browning quickly looked over Burnley and then shouted some commands at the Carnivores, who scurried off as the others remained to hold him down. “Stay with me Burnley, fight through it. You have to keep yourself alive. We need you, the F.E.C. needs you. Don’t you dare die on me, you belong to us!” It was at that exact moment when the seizures stopped, and Burnley’s body ceased moving. His head lulled to the side and his eyes became fixed and set, nothing more than dark, lifeless orbs. He was dead. “Son of a bitch!” Browning shouted and looked over his shoulder as the Carnivores wheeled in the crash cart. Turning up the dial all the way to maximum, Browning placed the paddles on Burnley’s bare chest and shocked him, then turned to look at the monitor. Nothing. No response. He waited a moment for the machine to recharge and then shocked him again. Burnley’s body bounded0 violently off the floor as the electricity flowed through him, into his seized up heart, but still nothing happened. “Fucking little weak shit!” he shouted down at him. “I knew that it was a mistake bringing you here. You’re completely worthless. All those resources spent up and wasted on you, it’s such a shame. The great Benjamin Burnley’s son is nothing more than a disappointment.” He looked down at the body in disdain, and wrapped his hands around the paddles one more time. “I won’t take the fall for you, you’re coming back to us, you bastard!” Screaming loudly, Dr. Browning slammed the paddles back down onto Burnley’s chest with great force and pressed the trigger button. The jolt of electricity immediately jump started his heart, and there was a small blip on the monitor. Browning looked at it in satisfaction. He knew that experimenting on Burnley was a risk, and now that it was done, he had to cover up his tracks before they knew what had been done without their permission.

“Keep him still. Don’t let him move if he wakes up.” He ordered the Carnivores and then headed to a cabinet of drugs, pulling out some sedatives. The blood from the body of the other doctor had pooled up now on the tile floor, and Browning casually walked through it, not even noticing that he was leaving behind stark, red footprints as he moved around the room. Filling a syringe with a large dose of tranquilizers, he returned to Burnley just as he started to wake up and return to consciousness. “I hope that you live through whatever they are going to do to you after this, Burnley. What happened here is only the beginning. I wish I could stick around and see how magnificent you become, but that’s not possible. You’ve ruined everything for me.” Shoving the needle into his arm, Browning watched the drug take effect, and once again sent Burnley into unconsciousness. The moment his body went limp, he shouted for the Carnivores to return him to his cell. As they carried him away, Browning started to pace back and forth. He was in a panic. “If they find out what I was doing… they will kill me! What the hell am I supposed to do now?” Going over to the computer, he entered a few codes and a map popped up on the screen. “I have to get out of here, go into hiding until things settle down… but where wouldn’t they look for me?” Choosing a location that wasn’t too far away, Browning grinned smugly and sent the coordinates to his com device. Thomas leaned in and narrowed his eyes, trying to see what Browning was looking at on his monitor. Then his heart sank…he knew where he was planning on escaping to. Browning gathered up a few things and then erased all the records in the computer, then flew out the door in a flurry, forgetting about the camera that was still recording. He was heading to Thomas’s Messenger base.

Thomas sat back in his chair. “That bastard!” He slammed his fists against the desk, sending some flash drives flying off onto the floor. They clattered loudly hitting the concrete floor in the quiet room. “He was with them the entire time!” Reversing the video, Thomas tapped his fingers on the keys and looked closer at Browning’s map, his eyes widened. There, displayed in front of him was the location of every single Messenger’s base on Prox. They had them all. Closing the video, Thomas quickly did a search on Burnley’s computer and found a series of topographical maps; each one had markings on it of the hidden bases that even the Messengers themselves had no idea of. Along with the maps there were lists of the personnel that lived and worked on the bases. As he scrolled down the list of names, there were some that were highlighted in red. These were the secret agents, Messengers that had been compromised by the F.E.C. and were being used to spy on them. Every single base had a few in it, hidden in the most obscure places. “No.” Thomas whispered. He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. He thought that they were safe, that the Messenger bases were a place of save haven, where the F.E.C. couldn’t find them, and now this was all nothing more than a lie. The F.E.C. had their claws in deeper than he ever had imagined. He knew that he had to get this information out of here and back to the Shallow Bay as soon as possible. The list of spies was extensive and they had to be dealt with immediately. Bending down, Thomas picked up the flash drives that he had knocked over and inserted into the computer. He would copy the files and take them with him, to deal with the problem once he escaped with the others. As the drive loaded, a new set of files came up which made him start to tremble. “It can’t be…” he whispered. Clicking on the icon, Thomas gasped and held his hands over his face, he was now looking at the plans and location for the Everything Machine. All that they needed to end the war and drive the F.E.C. off Prox for good. Freedom for his people. He had it all. Hitting the copy button, he loaded all information he could from Burnley’s hard drive onto the flash drives. As he sat there in silence waiting for the files to copy, he stared at the blueprints for the wicked machine that destroyed his home. It was a magnificent invention, fully capable of doing exactly what its name implied, Everything, as well as transporting back and inserting people back in other time lines for a short period of time, but had one major drawback. It consumed everything. It had caused a global war and destroyed Earth, and now it was doing the same thing here to his home. He had to stop it at all costs, even if it cost him his own life. 

Sighing, he rested his elbows on the desk in front of him and ran his fingers through his hair. He wanted to go home; he wanted to go back and see Lizzie and hold her in his arms again. All this was getting to be too much for him, but he gladly accepted the burden of it all. His eyes fell over the screen again and he wished that the copying bar would move faster, his friends were still out there and now the need to find them and get out of here was becoming increasingly more pressing. This information could change everything, IF he could just get it out. The blueprint of the Everything Machine was still on the screen and he marveled at it, thinking about how strange it was that one invention could change the future, and at the same time, change the past as well. Then he saw it. It caught his eye and he wasn’t sure quite what it was at first, but he clicked the mouse a few times, enlarging the photo in front of him and then his hand fell away, his fingers were shaking. On the corner of the scanned document, written in black ink was the signature of the designer of the machine, the person whose invention destroyed the world. It was Dustin Bates.

“Dustin, not you too…how could you? After all this time, you kept this from us. We trusted you. I trusted you!” Thomas groaned. His eyes shifted from the screen to the gun that he had placed on the desk in front of him. Could he be as bad as Burnley and vow to take out those who had betrayed him? From the moment that he brought Dustin back to the Messenger’s base… HIS base, Thomas knew that he would be nothing but trouble. Everything was fine until he showed up and then it all went to hell. At first he thought that his dislike for Dustin was because he had feelings for Benjamin, but there was something else deeper than that. Thomas always felt as though Dustin wasn’t one of them. He wasn’t a Messenger and he wasn’t from Prox. He had no place there among them, but he could not figure out why. Now he knew. Dustin Bates was the author of the Prox Transmission which was the basis on which everything about the F.E.C. was formed, including the Everything Machine. It was their master plan, their thesis, their bible, and it was written by someone that he trusted. Taking a breath, Thomas let out a long sigh. He didn’t know what to do. He couldn’t let Dustin back into the Shallow Bay now, not knowing this new information. Glancing up at the screen, he saw that the information had all been successfully copied onto the flash drive. It was finished, and he needed to move out, he had been delayed enough already in his task to find the others. He resolved to deal with Dustin after they escaped from the F.E.C.; there was nothing he could to at this point, arguing about it would be stupid and dangerous. He had to put his own personal feelings aside and find a logical way of ending the F.E.C.’s reign of terror on Prox, at all costs. So much had changed in the last several months; all due to a series of bad decisions, and now the lives and the planet and everyone on it could potentially be riding on his shoulder. 

Thomas rubbed the back of his neck, he wished that there was a way of going back in time and changing everything, without using the Everything Machine. Sending a person back into a different point of a fixed time line was dangerous, and costly in resources; not to mention the high probability of human error and emotions coming into play; there had to be an alternative. A sudden thought crossed his mind. An idea, not to send a person back in time to stop these things from happening, but a message might be the way to go. A warning. Burnley’s computer had the most sophisticated electronic transmission software on it, which could be altered to send a signal through space, and hopefully time back to Earth, where everything began. If he could stop the F.E.C. from gaining foothold there, then they would never come to Prox and peace could be restored. Bringing up a blank file, he began to type as fast as his fingers could allow, dancing them along the keyboard with ease.

To Who it May Concern:  
My name is Thomas Bell. I am the Commander of a group of rebels known as the Messengers. It is the year 2047. Our home, Prox, located in the Ophiuchus Constellation is currently on the brink of destruction and overrun by a maniacal, power hungry group of individuals known as the Free Energy Corporation. (F.E.C.) This signal is being sent in the hopes that it will reach you in time to issue a warning to your citizens that unless these people are stopped, the Earth will suffer a terrible fate. Attached to this message is a series of files, containing a time line of events that led to the destruction of your planet, as well as the demise of my own. Also included is all the proof you will need as evidence that this will occur in the form of blueprints and technical specs for the weapons that have been used against us. I am sending this information to you in hopes that your eyes can be opened and you can truly see the potential that these atrocities of inventions will have on the future, and all of mankind. The F.E.C. will stop at nothing in their attempt at universal domination, and as I write this every second draws them closer to accomplishing this. To the person reading this, I implore you to find a way to stop them, before it is too late. The lives of countless innocent souls is in your hands.

Regards,  
Thomas Bell.  
Attachment 1: Timeline.doc  
Attachment 2: The Everything Machine.pdf

Calculating the fluctuation between Earth and Prox, Thomas ran the numbers over in his head and configured the message to send from Burnley’s computer, set to reach the Earth of the past before the F.E.C. take over. It would be broadcast over a series of radio signals, encrypted and hopefully reaching someone of importance who could make use of it. It was a long shot; trying to change his future by altering the past, but there was no other alternative, he had to try.

After the message was ready, Thomas took a deep breath and then hit the send button. One second was all that it took for the signal to be sent, and hopefully peace restored. It was out of his hands now and he knew that there was nothing more he could do here. Pulling the removable drive from the slot, Thomas slipped it into his pocket and grabbed the weapon he had placed on the desk, getting ready to head out and search for the others again when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a notification on the screen. Curious, he pushed the chair out of the way, and clicked on it, thinking it might be a response from his message. For a moment he was flooded with hope and joy, but then as quickly as they came, his hopes were crushed again. It was only a notification from a CCTV camera installed somewhere in the base showing activity and alerting the user that there was movement in a secured location. Dismissing it as nothing out of the ordinary at first, Thomas’s first instinct was just to ignore it, but then something made him stop and take a closer look. He clicked the notification message and activated the camera which was labeled as ‘control room’. At first he couldn’t see anything, there was near total darkness in there, with little to no ambient lighting at all. The massive shutters were pulled down over the observation windows, and the only source of light was coming from the array of computer monitors on the main panel. There appeared to be no one in there, just a dark, empty room. Frowning to himself, Thomas scrolled the mouse around, trying desperately to see what the motion sensor had picked up. Then he saw it, nothing more than shadows at first, but then zooming in, he could see two figures there near the computers, huddled together closely. His heart began to beat fast with the thought that perhaps he had finally located his missing friends. He could easily locate the room that was displayed on the monitor and be there in a few minutes. He wouldn’t have to try and traverse the base alone anymore; it would be safer being with someone. Adjusting the contrast on the camera slightly, he could finally make out the features of one of the men. It was Brock. Thomas felt elated. Brock knew how to hack into security systems and navigate the facility with great ease. He was a great asset to have. Staring at the camera in curiosity, Thomas noticed that the expression on Brock’s face was strained and worn, and whomever he was with had him in a precarious position, pinned against the control panel in front of the massive metal shutters. His arm had been injured and it seemed that he was struggling to hold onto the other person to keep himself from falling down. Zooming in again, Thomas assumed that since he had left Dustin and Brock together, that is who he was with, but the body frame didn’t match Dustin’s at all. Well-toned, muscular arms and shoulders held Brock in place, keeping him motionless and stationary in a sinister stance. Thomas took another look… was that Benjamin? Taking a closer look, he could only barely see him from behind, but he could see the shirt that Ben was wearing last, the Messengers insignia on the sleeve was unmistakable. It had to be him. He felt sick to his stomach. No! This couldn’t be. Rage began to fill him. How could this be happening? Thomas never thought that Benjamin would join with the enemy; it just didn’t seem to be in his character. Was this rescue mission just a ploy to get them all in the same place, at the same time to destroy them? It was highly possible.

Alone in the cold room, Thomas continued to watch the black and white images on the monitor for a few moments, hoping that he was wrong. There was no audio on the feed, and all he could do is sit and watch, hoping that he could see something that would explain everything. The more he watched, however, the worse it got. With each passing minute, Benjamin got closer and closer to the smaller Brock, totally subduing him and leaning in against his body in an intimate manner that Thomas knew all too well. Because Ben was turned away from the camera, all he could focus on was the look in Brock’s eyes and try to read what he was feeling. He seemed frightened at first; he was holding back and refusing to give into Ben’s forward actions toward him, but then suddenly as he whispered something in his ear, Brock’s demeanor changed and he gave in and let Ben take control of the situation. No longer was Brock able to control his own emotions; he broke down and yielded control of everything to Ben. Thomas clenched his hands into fists and slammed them down onto the computer, cutting off the live feed. He had seen enough, he was done. This was his planet; he didn’t need anyone’s help to save it. He didn’t need Brock, Dustin or Ben.

Collecting his things, Thomas found a map of the facility and was able to locate a sub-basement where some vehicles were kept in case of a emergency evacuation. He had everything that he needed now, a way out of the base, as well as a wealth of information stolen off Burnley’s computer about the Everything Machine and the location of the F.E.C. base. He was going to return to the Shallow Bay and contact the other Messengers, letting them know of the spies in their groups and then after they were ousted, he would send them all the intel on the F.E.C. Joining together with other forces, the Shallow Bay would be successful in ending the F.E.C’s reign of terror on Prox. He didn’t need to rely on his message sent to the past; more than likely it would be intercepted or ignored anyway. He was taking things into his own hands and standing up on his own, with his head held high.

It was early twilight by the time that Lizzie and Aaron with the soldiers from Dawn reached the F.E.C. facility where she had just escaped from. The sun had just set and already the temperature had dropped 40 degrees, giving the early night air a chill. As they pulled up to the docks, Aaron came around to the side of the vehicle and helped Lizzie step out. The moment her feet touched the ground, she noticed that the rest of the men had already taken off and were moving around to the opposite side of the base. Seeing them speeding off in a cloud of dust, she looked at Aaron curiously wondering where they were going in such a rush. He explained to her that they had already been briefed and had their orders to carry out with minimal supervision. Lizzie knew what they had been commanded to do; they were going around the structure and planting explosive devices on crucial points, so that when the command was given at any moment, it could be blown to bits with the push of one single button. They were deadly serious about destroying it as soon as possible.

As she led them to the door that she had escaped from, Lizzie noticed something in the dirt a few feet away from the exit. Walking over to the dark shape lying on the ground she bent down and picked it up, letting the still warm sand that had blown over it fall away slowly. She knew what it was almost instantly, it was Thomas’s tactical vest, discarded carelessly a short distance from the base. Aaron came to join her and looked at her curiously. “This belongs to Thomas.” She said quietly, shivering. “I left him here, alone to go back in and find our friends.” She held the body armor tight to her chest. “I don’t know why it would be out here like this. He should still be wearing it.”

Aaron reached down and took it from her, and then helped her to her feet. He ran his hands over the steel plates and shook his head. “It’s not damaged in anyway. Maybe he discarded it before going back in there so it wouldn’t weigh him down. It is possible he wanted to move around faster, without being detected.” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Lizzie, you aren’t going to let a piece of clothing put you off guard and lead you into not focusing on the task at hand are you? We’ve got to get in there and find Burnley and bring this place down and I need you with me okay?”

“Huh?” Lizzie looked at him, a little shocked by the tone in his voice. “No, I am fine. Don’t worry about me.” She brushed the sand off her clothes and the hair away from her eyes. “I know exactly what we’re here for Aaron, but you forgot the part about getting my friends out of there.”

Taking hold of her shoulder, Aaron gave it a tight squeeze. “Of course, we’re going to get them all out as well. I just need you to keep it together.” Smiling at her, Lizzie watched as he took Thomas’s tactical vest and tossed it back into the sand and started to walk off to the entrance. The wind had picked up and within a few moments it was beginning to be covered in sand and reclaimed by the desert. Taking one last look at it, she quickly hurried and caught up to him, keeping her thoughts to herself. Eventually they made it to the door and Aaron hesitated, looking at the now sealed slab of metal that prevented them from going through. “I shot the electronic lock from the inside, it opened up wide enough for the three of us to escape, I don’t know why it’s not open now.”

“The base has a self-defense mechanism in place. Any damaged doors or entryways can be programmed to repair themselves if the perimeter is compromised. The central server connects everything in the control room, once a alarm goes off that something was damaged, all a programmer has to do is click a few buttons and within an hour or so, everything is brand new again. No human interaction needed or required. Another great invention brought to you by the F.E.C. and the Everything Machine, at the cost of about a few thousand souls. Care to invest?” Aaron laughed.

Lizzie was not impressed by his humor. She stepped forward and put her hand on the cold metal. How are we going to get back in then?”

Aaron stepped next to her and pulled out a small, spherical shaped object and stuck it to the door. “Like this.” He said. Pushing a button on the side it began to emit a beep, which grew in intensity as the seconds passed by. Louder and louder it became, and Lizzie was forced to cover her ears until all at once, it went silent. She looked up at him in confusion. Reaching out, Aaron took the device off the door and held it in his hand and slid the metal door aside with ease. “It scrambles the codes used to keep the doors locked, however, it’s a really useless device to us, because of that terrible sound that it makes, it usually alerts everything around it, and we haven’t figured out how to bypass it yet. We only use these things in times of emergencies, but since you said that Burnley took out pretty much all the guards, I figured that it would be okay to use it, and voila, we now have entry to the base and at a point where you can backtrack your steps and lead us to your friends.” He said confidently.

She looked into the looming darkness and was overcome with the same sense of dread from before. The flickering lights in the corridor beyond only added to her fear, knowing that the blood soaked walls and dead bodies of Carnivores were waiting for them. There was a strange foul smelling odor coming from further down that sickened her; it was faint and hard to pick up at first, but as the breeze blew in from outside, she could distinctly pick the scent up and it turned her stomach slightly. The noxious odor and the ominous darkness frightened her to the core. “I will try my best.” Lizzie said, taking a small step in front of him.

Before she could move again, Aaron reached out and touched her arm. “You don’t have to do this. I just want you to know that. You got us here, and have given us the opportunity to capture Burnley and get the information from him that we want. There is no need for you to go in there and face it all again. I know that you’ve been through a lot, Selene told us that you were converted into a Carnivore and that you’ve been struggling through the recovery process. If this is going to be too much for you, you can wait outside here. I understand.” His voice dropped a bit and he let go of her arm. “We’ve lost so many of our loved ones to these bastards, and even though you just came into our lives, we consider you part of our family now. I don’t want to put you in danger and lose you as well, Lizzie.”

Touched by his momentary show of compassion, she smiled at him as her hand went down and touched the handle of the gun at her side. All the memories that she had been forced to remember a few hours ago swirled about in her head and picked at her brain, assuring of her of what she had to do. Burnley was not going to leave with these men. “Let’s go.” Stepping inside, she looked into the thick darkness as Aaron came up behind her with a bright light. Noticing that they were still alone, she frowned at him. “Where’s the rest of the men?”

“After they set the charges, they are to fall back and wait outside the perimeter until we return with the prisoner and your friends. It was decided that it would be for the best that I subdue Burnley on my own; taking too many men in here would only cause him to retaliate against us. We have stealth on our side this way.” Aaron answered. There was something about the way he said the words that led Lizzie to believe that he was only partially being honest with her. She was unsure whether or not she wanted to press him on the issue, because she too, was hiding something.

“And if you don’t make it out?” She asked.

“I think you already know the answer to that question.” He said flatly, looking ahead of him into the looming darkness beyond.

Lizzie heart beat high in her throat. She bit her bottom lip. “How long do we have?” she asked.

Aaron brought his arm up and pushed back his sleeve, revealing his communication device. From her vantage point, Lizzie could see a timer counting down. “Two hours. If we’re not out of here by then, the whole place gets blown up… with you, me, Burnley, and all your friends in it.”

Turning around, she looked back at him astonished. “But why? You’re the leader of Dawn. You said that you have a family back there! Why would you tell them to do such a thing? It’s madness!”

A soft look came over his face. “We’ve been hiding for so many years, wasting away and scared to death of the F.E.C. wondering when we go to sleep at night, if the next day will be our last. We have never had the chance to get the upper hand on them, and now we do… but everything is riding on this. I can’t go back to Dawn without the information that I came here for. I can’t stand to see the look in their eyes when they know I’ve failed… and if what you are saying is correct, if I can’t capture Burnley then I am as good as dead anyway. I want my children to know that I died fighting the good fight.” Aaron smiled at Lizzie again, his pale blue eyes gazing wistfully at her, and she could see a note of sorrow in them now. “We need that information, Lizzie. It can change everything; my son won’t have to be afraid anymore.” He was being truthful with her; he had made promises to everyone that he would bring Burnley back, at any cost and once again, she found herself doubting her plan. Motioning for her to join him, Aaron flashed his light down the hall. It appeared empty and unusually quiet. “Which way do we go?” he asked her.

Gathering up her courage, Lizzie re-entered the base and joined Aaron at his side, pointing to the south, in the direction of the infirmary where she had last left Dustin and Brock. She couldn’t sure that they were there any longer, but it was a start. “This way.” She said and started off down the long maze of corridors.

Thomas reached the door that led down to the sub-basement where the vehicles were being stored quickly. There were no Carnivores to worry about, no Burnley, nothing but empty halls leading him on. As he made it to his destination, he looked at the massive steel gate that was set deeply within the walls. It was locked up tight with no visible entry way in. He was locked out. “DAMN IT!” he shouted loudly and kicked at the doors. He was so close to escaping now that he could almost taste it. Leaving the others behind was something that he didn’t want to do, but he felt that he had to do it and move on now. The three of them had their own agenda, and clearly it didn’t involve saving Prox, so he had to cut his losses. Lizzie would be saddened by the loss of Brock, but from the dead look in his eyes as Ben was kissing him, Thomas could tell that something bad had happened to him to drive him to that. He was broken and only a shell of his former self. Brock helped him after he recovered from the effects of the visor, and he wanted to return the favor, saving a life for a life, but he was too far gone already. Added on top of that was the simple fact that he was with Benjamin. This was just too much for him. Never would he have suspected that Brock had feelings for Ben, because of Dustin… but there it was, right under his nose the entire time.

He continued to walk , lost in his own thoughts. Briefly his fingers touched upon the flash drive in his pocket, just to reassure himself that it was still there. The more he ran it over and over in his mind, the more he realized that he would have to go up to the control room and get the door open to the sub-basement. That meant confronting Ben and Brock. He would do it, there was no other choice. As he made his way back through the corridors, Thomas noticed that the temperature in the base had stopped dropping, and it was warming up. Somehow, the life support shut down system had been halted and the oxygen levels returned to normal. Whatever was going on in this base, he didn’t want to be a part of any longer. Twenty minutes of walking led him back up to the main part of the base again and past all the rapidly rotting corpses of the Carnivores. Because of their increased metabolism and genetically altered DNA, their physical bodies were prone to rapid decomposition and the smell of the putrid flesh was becoming almost unbearable with no air flow in the corridors now. Putting his hand over his mouth, he tried his best to hold back the rising bile from his stomach that threatened to make him instantly sick. Taking a moment to compose himself, then heard a sound off in the distance and stopped dead in his tracks. There were voices coming from down the hallway. Dropping back to hide himself around a corner, Thomas armed the laser rifle and eased his finger down over the trigger. Listening, he could make out the low baritone voice of a man, speaking quietly to another person who seemed much more quiet and kept their voice hushed. There wasn’t supposed to be anyone else alive in the base except for Brock, Dustin, Ben and the psycho Burnley, so he knew that these people had come from the outside. F.E.C. members perhaps to find out why the base had suddenly gone dark. Taking a deep breath, Thomas decided that he was tired of being chased and scared by these bastards and just as the voices drew close and he could see the light flashing against the far wall across from him, he stepped out, aiming the gun at the first person with his finger ready to pull the trigger.

“Thomas!! Stop!!” Lizzie cried and stepped forward, grabbing the barrel of the rifle and pushing it down towards the floor. Thomas stood still, his eyes wide, not quite believing what he was seeing and she jumped right into his arms, wrapping herself around him and sobbing softly.

“Lizzie!” Thomas let the weapon drop down and put his arm around her back, drawing her in against him as tightly as he could, burying his face in the velvety layers of her long hair. “What are you doing back here? Where is Selene?” he mumbled, overcome with emotion.

Letting him go, but not moving away from him Lizzie wiped her tears of joy away. She never thought that she would be so emotionally attached to anyone as much as she was to Thomas. Even being parted from him for a matter of hours was enough to drive her mad. “We were attacked by a rogue group of Carnivores on the way back to the Shallow Bay. They destroyed the vehicle and almost killed us. Thankfully, Aaron and his group from Dawn saw what was going on and saved us just in time. Selene is safe, they sent her for treatment back to the Shallow Bay. We came back here to look for you and the others.” Lizzie wrapped her small fingers around the edge of Thomas’s coat and gave it a little tug. “We have to get out of there as soon as possible. They are going to destroy the base in two hours, there is no way of stopping it.”

Thomas looked at her in disbelief and then to the other man who had stepped to the side and was glancing down nervously at his communicator. “Aaron? You’re from another Messenger group, Dawn?” he asked cautiously. Thomas had seen Burnley’s list of other Messenger groups and tried to recall whether or not he saw the name Dawn on the list. “How did you know that the girls would be out there in the desert?”

Extending his hand, Aaron stepped forward and offered it to Thomas, who didn’t take it. He kept one hand on his weapon, and the other wrapped tightly around Lizzie’s waist. Aaron shrugged and returned to leaning against the wall. “We were out on a random patrol and happened to see the smoke from their overturned vehicle. That’s what drew us to them. My men fought off those creatures and brought both girls to us. The older woman, Selene told us about what was going on here, and about Burnley and the information that he has regarding the Everything Machine and the coordinates of the F.E.C. headquarters. It was a group decision to come here to acquire Burnley and bring him back with us to extract that information so we can take the bastards down once and for all.”

“…..and to rescue our friends.” Lizzie said quietly, but neither of the men appeared to have heard her.

“You’re going to take Burnley prisoner and hope that he gives you that information?” Thomas stifled a laugh. “That’s crazy! You will never get it out of him; he’ll die before revealing anything to you.”

“It’s a risk that we’re willing to take. We’ve 1.5 hours now to locate him before everything goes up in a massive explosion. Now that you’re with us, I’d like to have your help Thomas.” Aaron said gently.

Thomas stared at the man in front of him, he was young, but he looked incredibly intelligent. He didn’t like the fact that he convinced Lizzie to return to the facility so easily. “No.” He replied in a dull tone. “What you need to do is turn around, go back to your vehicle and go back to your base, wherever that is. Don’t worry about Burnley or anything else. There’s nothing here for you and if you stay any longer, something bad is going to happen to you, and I am not talking about your explosion either.”

Aaron straightened up a bit, stepping away from the wall and Thomas let go of Lizzie. She took a step back herself and cringed at the tone in his voice. She didn’t like where this conversation was going. It felt like the two men were almost challenging one another. “I am not afraid of this Burnley kid.” Aaron chuckled. “He has information we NEED, Thomas. This is our only chance to get it.”

“And you’re just going to put your own life in danger to try and abduct him? That’s ridiculous.” Thomas pulled the flash drive out of his pocket and held it up. “Everything you need to know is right here. I copied it directly from the asshole’s computer, so you can bet it’s legit.”

Reaching out his hand Aaron smiled at Thomas. “Can I have it?”

Immediately, Thomas took the drive and slipped it back into his pocket. “After you get Lizzie and me out of here, I will provide you a copy of it. It’s easy as that.”

The open, honest look on Aaron’s face changed to one of utter disappointment, but before he could say anything Lizzie spoke up. “We’re not leaving yet.” Turning away from Aaron she looked at Thomas with pleading eyes. “Our friends are still in here, trapped with that lunatic in a base that is about to explode. How can you be so cold as to walk away from them like that? I understand that the information you have there is important, but so are their lives.” Lizzie took hold of his hand and held it tightly, lacing her fingers in with his. “Selene sent you back in here to try and save Burnley, remember? What happened to your promise to her that you’d try?”

Thomas cringed; remembering the video that he watched of the moment when the young Burnley was injected with the Eden drug. The look in his eyes after he had ripped a man’s throat apart with his teeth was all that he needed to break his promise to Selene, but he knew that he couldn’t tell Lizzie about the sick, sadistic things that he witnessed. “Burnley is past the point of being saved, Lizzie. I don’t know why she wanted me to come back in here or what she saw in him, maybe it was the information he had about the F.E.C., I don’t know, but we have it now, so we can just go… don’t you want to get the hell out of here?”

Pulling her hand away from his, Lizzie slid the wedding ring off her finger and held it up for Thomas to see. “This doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to Benjamin. I don’t know how you got it, and it doesn’t really matter. When I first saw the initials on it, I was mad beyond belief that you would make a promise to me, over a trinket that wasn’t even yours. Then I got to thinking, that this R.B. person who this ring did belong to must have been someone truly special, because Ben wanted to share his life with them. I’ve known him for a while now, and I’ve seen firsthand that he is filled with love and devotion, but he is cautious with it, he doesn’t just share it with anyone. It takes a special kind of person to steal his heart, much less keep it for a lifetime. This is the kind of love that I want. I want to be surrounded by friends and family with the person that I choose to share my heart with for as long as there is breath in my lungs and my heart beats. Can you be that person for me, Thomas?”

There was a lump caught in Thomas’s throat, preventing him from speaking straight away. He was terrified that she had discovered that the ring was stolen, but at the same time, relieved to hear her beautiful, soulful words of inspiration and hope. Slowly, he nodded to her and took the metal trinket from her and slid it back onto her finger. “Yes, Lizzie. I will be that person, I promise.”

Smiling at him, she stood up on her tip toes and brushed the locks of curly hair away from his face and then kissed him gently on the forehead, then on the lips, whispering to him. The gentle feeling of her sweet breath on his skin was refreshing and filled his heart with hope. “Then start with this, please. Help us, help me to find our friends and bring them back home.”

Thomas looked over to Aaron, whose eyes looked watery. He pulled out the flash drive and tossed it to him. Aaron fumbled in mid-air but caught it. Looking to Thomas, he gazed at him in wonder. “Take it.” Thomas said. “Go back to your base and use that information to bring those bastards down. Mission accomplished. Maybe we will see you again sometime soon.”

Aaron looked at the flash drive in his hand like it was some sort of rare, exotic creature. “I can’t stop the detonation. The explosive devices have a fail proof mechanism that can’t be deactivated. If you’re still in here in an hour and half….”

“Then I will die.” Thomas said flatly. “But at least I will die protecting someone that I love.” He glanced down at Lizzie, who was beaming with pride. Her eyes when to Aaron who had given her much the same speech earlier.

“I’ll stay with you.” He said.

Lizzie shook her head. “No. We all know that you have a huge task in front of you now. You got what you came for, and can go back home and be a hero to your Messengers, and to your son.” Her eyes dropped down off of him and returned to Thomas once again. “Because family means more than anything.”

Aaron walked over to Thomas and extended his hand again. This time he took it, gripping it tightly and shook it, placing his other hand on top. “I will see to it that a vehicle is left for you out there on the northern perimeter, along with some gear. I’ll be back in the morning to come and collect it, but I hope that I don’t have to.” Squeezing his hand, Aaron patted Thomas on his shoulder with the other. “It has been a pleasure meeting you, Thomas Bell. You may not realize it, but you are the reason why so many people are still out there fighting, day after day. It’s not because of Benjamin’s leadership, or anything like that, they fight because they see you, the ordinary man from Prox who found the strength to stand up against the F.E.C. and fight for what he believes in. We’re traveling down two different paths right now, you and I but we’re headed in the same direction, and I wish you all the best.” He stopped and looked at Lizzie, hesitating, almost as if he wanted to say something directly to her, but changed his mind and offered them both one of his open, honest smiles instead. “…with everything you do.” Letting go of Thomas’s hand, he slung his weapon across his back and headed back down the hall, out of sight.

Lizzie and Thomas stood alone in the hall for a few moments, each unable to find the words to say to one another, but happy to be together once more. Thomas knew that after this, he would never send her off on her own again, it was a dangerous and risky thing to do, and the thought of something happening to her was overwhelming. Slipping his hand into hers, he felt the cool metal of the wedding ring that he had once again placed there and took a deep breath. “We need to get going, we’re running out of time here.” He said quietly.

Lizzie nodded. “Yes, but how are we going to find them? This place is huge and we don’t have much time.” Trying to keep her thoughts focused on the task at hand of trying to find their friends, Lizzie knew that she still had to try and find a way to get her shot at Burnley. The idea of him putting his hands on her, and driving tubes and wires into her body was appalling and disturbing. Even now, days after the incident happened, she could still occasionally catch a thin whiff of the plastic mask that he had put over her nose and mouth, snuffing out all conscious thought and taking away everything human away from her. Facing him again would be the hardest thing that she would ever have to do, but she needed to be the one to pull the trigger and end his life. One way or another she would find the bastard.

“Lizzie? Lizzie?” Thomas was calling to her. “Hey are you okay? You’re crushing my hand.”

Realizing that she was holding onto Thomas unusually tightly, she let go and blushed. “I’m sorry. I was just distracted for a moment.”

“Are you sure that you’re okay?” He asked her gently.

“YES! Why does everyone keep asking me that?!” she snapped at him, and then cringed as her loud voice echoed in the hall. Looking at Thomas, she saw hurt in his eyes and then forced herself to calm down. “Where do we even start? How do we even know where they are?”

Remembering what he saw from the control room, Thomas shuddered. “We have to head to the main control room. Brock and Ben are there.”

A smile came across Lizzie’s face. “Oh thank goodness! They are okay! I was so worried. All we have to do is go meet up with them and then find Dustin. We can do this! We can all go back home.” Turning, Lizzie walked around Thomas and started to make her way back down the hall. Noticing that he wasn’t following her, Lizzie gave him a curious look. “Thomas?”

Fighting back conflicting emotions, he looked over at her, his eyes full of apprehension. “Before we do this, there’s something that you have to be aware of… It’s about Benjamin and Brock.”

Looking at him curiously, Lizzie stopped and stood still. “What about them?”

Lowering his head, Thomas tried not to let himself think of the images that he had seen; that dull, lifeless look reflected in Brock’s eyes as those wide, muscular shoulders leaned over him and pushed him against the panel. Shuddering, he forced the memory back into the recesses of his mind. “Burnley’s computer has a live feed of some of the secure sections of the base. While I was copying the info from his hard drive, I saw Brock and Ben in the control room, together. Alone.” Looking up, Thomas could see that Lizzie was watching him as he spoke, with her beautiful, innocent wide blue eyes. She wasn’t making the connection, and he didn’t want to be callous or go into detail about what he had seen. It just felt wrong even talking about it. “They weren’t working on finding a way out of here… Benjamin was kissing Brock, and Brock wasn’t fighting against it or pushing him away.”

“What are you talking about? That’s wrong; Brock doesn’t have feelings for Ben at all! He’s in love with Dustin! I know this for a fact, he’s told me this many times. There has to be some mistake. Are you certain of what you saw?” She shook her head violently. “No! I refuse to accept this. You’re wrong.”

Taken back by her unusual devotion and trust in Brock, Thomas tried to reason with her. “He had his back towards me, but I am telling you that it had to be Ben. He had the uniform shirt on from the Messengers that he had the last time we saw him in the cell. Think about it logically, Lizzie. Brock wouldn’t let anyone else get that close to him, would he? No. He was never interested in allowing people into his life; he kept everything about him shrouded in secrets. We don’t know what he has been hiding, or what any of them have been concealing. They aren’t from Prox; you have to keep that in mind. We have to accept the fact that they might not be leaving here with us. I wanted you to know this so that you don’t get your hopes up. I don’t know what happened between the two of them, but things change, people change…and there’s no going back.”

“You’re wrong.” Lizzie repeated, emphasizing her first statement, just in case he didn’t hear it. “If you could see the look in Brock’s eyes when he talks about Dustin, you’d know, you could see it too. Something happened between the two of them when they were back on Earth and instead of driving them apart, it only made Brock want Dustin so much more. His entire world revolves around him, and he loves him dearly, just like you and I. That kind of love can’t just be discarded or thrown away like it never existed. We need to go talk to him, I need to talk to him, he will listen to me. I am not leaving a single one of them behind.” Turning quickly, Lizzie started to walk away and then Thomas grabbed her arm abruptly.

“Wait. There’s more.” He said, stopping her.

Shrugging his hand off her, she shot him an annoyed glance. “Go on.”

“On Burnley’s hard drive was also the original scans of blueprints for the Everything Machine that were created on Earth and brought here, the machine that is slowly killing our world. The inventor of the machine signed the bottom of the page with his own unique signature. It was Dustin Bates.” Thomas heard Lizzie let out a small gasp but then started again before she could say anything. “…that’s not all that I found… that damned manuscript, the Prox Transmissions, the very thing that the F.E.C has used to take over and enslave hundreds of thousands of our people was also on the computer. Dustin was listed as the author of that as well. I scanned through it, Lizzie, there is so much information in there about us, about Prox… everything, from the destruction of earth, to the visors that Selene was working on, even Burnley’s kidnapping.. It’s all there; in such detail that you just know it has to be truth. Dustin has to be working with them for him to have had access to so much knowledge. Maybe that’s why Brock turned away from him? He realized that Dustin was lost, a hopeless cause and turned toward Ben. It makes logical sense if you think about it.”

Her hands were trembling now, so she shoved them into her pockets. “This isn’t right. None of it is. Are you really listening to your own words? Dustin, Ben, Brock… these are our friends who have stood with us every step of the way. I find it hard to believe that they would be so quick to betray us.”

Thomas now regretted getting into this discussion. The clock was ticking down the minutes and they were standing there, arguing over a moot point. He knew that he had to get her moving, either towards the control room or out the exit before time ran out. “Everyone has their own agenda, Lizzie. I found evidence that our very own Dr. Browning was F.E.C. as well. He was the very first person who injected Burnley with the Eden drug without permission and then before the corporation found out about it, he ran and hid in our base, making it look like he escaped. He was deceiving us the entire time, I am glad that he’s dead now because if I ever saw him again, I’d kill him myself for letting us believe that he was one of us. Do you know how many people’s lives he put in danger by coming to us? But he isn’t the only one, there was a list… I saw it… there are spies in every Messenger base on Prox. The F.E.C. has been watching us for years. We can’t trust anyone.” He walked over to her and took hold of her hands. “I am not trying to hurt you in anyway with this information, I know how much you respect and look up to the others, I only wanted you to know this before we jumped right in. No more secrets between us. Once we dive right in, we’re going in over our heads and I want you to be prepared.”

The weight of the gun attached to her hip suddenly felt very heavy, and Lizzie couldn’t help herself but to ease up and accept the things he was telling her. Maybe he was right, the people that she had called her friends could possibly have been coerced into joining with the enemy, but a part deep down inside of her just refused to accept it, unless she saw it with her own eyes. “I want to go find them. I don’t care what’s going on between them, it doesn’t matter right now. This place, it’s wrong, and we have to get out of here. Together.”

Thomas stepped forward and kissed Lizzie gently on her soft lips. “I’ll do anything for you, I’ll go anywhere for you. I’ll never be far from you again. I promise.” He said. His voice was barely a whisper but the meaning behind the words was louder than a crash of lightning striking the ground. Turning around, they walked away from the exit and deep into the F.E.C. facility, heading straight for the control room.

My heart stopped. At first Burnley didn’t look at me, he simply stepped out of the room and made his way over to stand behind Brock, his cold amber eyes were completely set on him, not even acknowledging my presence at all. There seemed to be a chill in the air that surrounded him and froze me right down to the bone. It seeped into my lungs and sucked out all the air inside, choking, strangling me. Instantly, I began to tremble, but I knew that the tremors weren’t caused by the temperature of the air. It was him; it was Burnley… the man who violated me. Slowly, his body turned and those amber orbs fell upon me and I felt my stomach turn. He didn’t need to say a single word to me, that accusing gaze was enough to make me feel totally powerless. I could have collapsed right then and there. For the first time in my entire life, I felt true, unadulterated fear welling up inside of me, and it took every bit of willpower I had to stand there and look at him. Brock made no attempt at moving or running away from him, and it confused me how calm he was about the whole thing. There was no expression on his face at all, he was just as cold and emotionless as Burnley was and it scared the hell out of me. What had the bastard done to him? Did he use a visor on him? No, it couldn’t be. Selene had seen to it that they were all destroyed. Swallowing my fear down, I tried my best to keep my voice steady and calm and ignored the vulture that lurked behind him, waiting to pick him apart. “Brock? I don’t know what’s going on here, but you need to come with me right now. Forget about everything that happened earlier, it doesn’t matter at all. Please, let’s just go.”

Brock stood motionless, with his arms at his side. I could see one of his arms had been encased in a cast, and the tips of his fingers which were sticking out were lacerated and had a sickly shade of blue and purple on them. His normal, healthy skin tone was gone, replaced with a pale white sheen, accented by the deep hollows of his sunken eyes, outlined perfectly with heavy black lines. Something was wrong with him; he looked like a defeated, broken man standing in front of me. When he spoke, the tone in his voice was sharp and direct, filled with apathy and hate that made me cringe. “I am not going anywhere with you. Get the fuck out of my way.”

I clutched his messenger bag tightly in my hands, and kept trying to convince myself that I could be strong and talk some sense into him. Burnley made no move at all; he merely kept his distance from me, but stood unusually close to Brock. The closeness of the way he stood next to him made me feel physically ill. Remembering the imposing weight of that muscular frame against my own body made me feel incredibly anxious and all I wanted to do is run as far as I could away from him, but I knew that I couldn’t leave Brock here. Burnley had completely broke and devastated me, I didn’t want him to do the same with Brock. So long ago, I allowed madness to creep into my mind, take over my brain and raped him. He was only able to overcome it because he loved me, but if the same thing happened to him again, but with Burnley instead, I knew that he wouldn’t be able to live through it. I was here, fighting for my life as much as I was fighting for his. “Look, I know you’re pissed off at me. I am really sorry for sending you out there on your own. I am not asking you for forgiveness or anything special like that, all I want is for you to walk away from him right now and come with me. If you don’t want to go back to the Shallow Bay, that’s fine, you don’t have to. We can figure something else out. Please Brock. I need you to do this.”

Brock’s injured fingers curled into a fist. I could see bits of dried blood crack and split, opening up the wounds on his knuckles. Tiny red droplets trickled down onto the floor and splashed at his feet. He didn’t seem to notice at all. “You NEED me Dustin? You want to know something hilarious? That’s the first lie I’ve heard all day and I find it amusing that it’s coming from you.” I happened to glance over to Burnley at that exact moment and saw that a sly smile crossed his lips and he cocked his head to the side, seemingly only slightly interested in what was going on. What an arrogant ass he was. He had still not said a single thing, but he was obviously satisfied with the words that Brock was speaking. It was at that moment that I knew what must have happened, somehow Burnley had found a way to manipulate Brock, just like he had done to me, and now he was using him against me. He was going to be his weapon, and his shield. It was going to be a fight to get him back.

Taking a breath, I tore my gaze off Burnley and looked back to Brock. I HAD to stay focused. “I never lied to you, not once…things just got complicated between us and started spiraling out of control. I know that I should have stopped it, and tried to make you understand, but I needed you, and I still need you. I don’t think that…”

“STOP, just fucking stop it Dustin. Don’t you realize how pathetic you sound right now? You only ever needed me to fill that hole that Ben put in your heart. I let you do whatever you wanted to me, I let you use me, lie to me, fuck me and then just walk away like it meant nothing. But you know something? It may not have meant anything to you, but to me it meant everything. Every single time you came to me, with tears in your eyes, I opened my arms and took you in. I craved your touch, your affection so much that I was willing to let you manipulate me into thinking that we could be together, forever. I am so ashamed, not of letting it happen to me, but I am ashamed of the person that you’ve become. ” Brock’s eyes pierced me and the tone in his voice was sharp and direct, going right for my jugular. “Tell me something, Dustin… when you were fucking me, were you thinking of him, of Benjamin. Counting the moments until you could let him to do to you what you were doing to me?”

Rage and anger filled me. The words that he spoke I knew I heard before, they weren’t his, they were Burnley’s. They were the exact words that he spoke to me during his vicious assault. This infuriated me to no end. Hearing them spoken out loud made me question my own strength and courage to keep standing here. I felt the waves of guilt and shame wash over me once again and I thought for sure I’d drown in the emotions that threatened to overwhelm me. He kept looking at me, staring right through me with such coldness that I had never seen before from him, and it was breaking my heart. Brock had never been one to hide his emotions before, he always wore his heart on his sleeve and you could tell exactly what he was thinking from the expression on his face. Only now all that trust, belief and faith were gone, replaced by a stone wall of emotionless hate and it was directed at me. I wanted to reach out and take hold of Brock, pulling him away from the lunatic as fast as I could, but I knew that he wouldn’t allow that to happen. I had to find a way to keep myself calm and bring Brock back to the sane way of thinking before anything else could happen. I had to find a way to make him understand. “Listen to yourself, Brock. You’re repeating BURNLEY’S words. He put them into your head and convinced you that they were the truth. He takes things that mean the world to you and twists them to use as weapons against you. That’s what he is doing right now. He wants you to think that he’s on your side, but all the while he’s just taking advantage of you. What did he promise you? What could it possibly have been that lured you in to his trap? I can’t comprehend what he could ever hold over you. Whatever it is, you can be assured that it comes with a high price. I’ve been through this already; I’ve had his poison run through my veins as well. I know that you’re strong enough to stop this from happening. You don’t have to come back with me; all I am asking is that you leave him behind, walk away and never look back.”

I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. Burnley shifted slightly and leaned in close to the side of Brock’s face, he did not touch him, but instead brought his lips to hover over his ear. I saw Brock’s eyes flutter slightly and the tight curl of the fist he had made with his hand relax. Burnley’s amber eyes focused on me and I heard him whisper to Brock. “Ask him.”

Without hesitating Brock asked, “Dustin. Do you love me?”

It was a trick question. Burnley was testing both of us, baiting me and seeing if Brock would snap the trap shut. I had to be very careful how I answered it. “Yes, Brock. I love you.” I said this confidently and directly to him, ignoring everything else. All he had to do was look in my eyes to see affirmation.

“You’re a fucking liar.” He shot back at me.

His response hit me like a punch in the face. I wasn’t expecting it to be so blunt and vicious. “It’s the truth I swear!” I clutched tighter at the edges of the messenger bag and the weight shifted, I had to reposition my hands on it to keep from dropping it. I couldn’t stop shaking. Brock started to laugh and I felt even more disturbed by this. I loved to hear him laugh before, it was a beautiful sound that instantly brightened any room and made everyone smile. Now all it sounded like was sarcastic and condescending. How could it be possible that he was changing so much, becoming a different person right before my eyes? I had to bring him back before it was too late. I HAD to convince him.

“I saved your life once, remember, Dustin? On the roof of the hospital when Ben was going to take you away and steal your soul. You were ready to go into oblivion with him, leaving us all behind. Only when I told you that I loved you did you hesitate. Why was this? I thought for sure that this was the turning point, after that we would be together. I chose to believe you. I chose to believe in US. I spent years in silence, afraid to reveal my true feelings for you because I didn’t want to get hurt, and then finally I did, everything seemed like it was going to be okay. I was so happy to finally have your love… but it was just temporary, wasn’t it? You told me then that you loved me. Lies. Fucking lies. I gave you everything that I had, every single part of me in an effort to try to please you, to make you happy and the entire time, all you truly wanted was……”

Brock stopped, overcome with emotion, he couldn’t continue any longer. The memories were too much for him, he had hit his breaking point. His heart wouldn’t let him say another word. The emotions were ripping him apart and as much as I was hurting for him, I knew that I had to let him go through this. He was starting to see, to understand… My Brock, with all the innocence and tenderness was still in there somewhere.

Satisfied that somehow we reached a moment of understand, Burnley took over, speaking up. “Benjamin. That's you ever wanted, Dustin was Benjamin.”

I could see tears welling up in Brock’s eyes now. Everything was out in the open now. This was the confrontation we should have had back in the infirmary alone, together… not here with the sadistic bastard present. When Brock could finally speak again, I heard real, terrible, awful hate in his voice. That once brief moment of lucid thought slipped away and he had lightening in his eyes once again. “You say that you love me, but you NEVER loved me the same way that you loved HIM. I could see it in your eyes every time that he looked at you, I could feel the change in you when he was around, and you became a different person, blinded by your affection towards him, unable to focus on anything else but him. I wanted that kind of love. I felt as though after years of waiting, I deserved it. Coming here on Prox, I thought I had a chance, another opportunity to start over and be part of your life like I always dreamed I could be. The moment you were reunited with him is when my was heart shattered. The night was filled with artificial stars and beautiful music when you found yourself in his arms. But for me there was nothing but darkness and shadows. Do you remember how he made you feel? Does it still take your breath away? As your love for him grew, so did my hatred. He took the only one thing away from me that kept me alive. I thought that for a moment, I could try to get close to you again when he was gone, and I almost had you, but there was a part of you that I could not possess, and that was your heart…” Brock lowered his gaze and I saw Burnley glance at him. He was so stoic and unfeeling compared to Brock who was visibly trembling and falling apart. He needed Brock to be as cold and heartless as he was, and I was afraid that he would do something to push him over the edge to get what he wanted.

“Ask him.” Burnley repeated again, this time his voice a little more deep and commanding. 

I saw Brock’s injured hand clench into a fist again, a spasm of pain shot up his arm and I could see him react to it. He did not cry out or falter, but instead he seemed to gain strength from it, and it scared the hell out of me. Gritting his teeth, he straightened back up and snarled at me, his question laced with loathing. “Do you love Benjamin, Dustin?”

My mind went blank.  
“You know that I do.” Was all that I could say.  
I closed my eyes for a moment. My chest was tight and my breathing shallow. I couldn’t find any more words to say after that. He wanted the truth, so I gave it to him, blunt and direct, without excuses or explanations. I reopened my eyes and looked at him directly. The haunted, hollow look was gone, replaced by calmness that gave me a dreadful feeling. It was then that I realized that I had just killed him with my words.

“Now you’re finally being honest with me, that’s all I needed and wanted to hear from you.” Brock said as he blinked back the tears. His eyes were red and puffy, looking incredibly tired and worn. I couldn’t possibly imagine what he was going through or how he was feeling. Maybe that was part of the problem; I just wasn’t seeing things from his point of view. “It feels good, doesn’t it, when the truth finally comes out. All these years we’ve been going through the motions and pretending, allowing ourselves to believe in something that was as fictitious as a flimsy fantasy paperback novel, we keep turning the pages and wishing that something good will happen on the next page, but it never does. We just keep turning them one by one, in an endless monotony of hope.” He took a deep breath, and I swear that I could hear it rattling in his lungs. He turned and looked at Burnley. “I refuse to let the story play out like this. I get to write the ending to this chapter this time.” Burnley met his glance and did absolutely nothing, he simply continued to remain silent and steadfast. Whatever had transpired between the two of them in that little room had a serious effect on Brock and it sickened me.

Deciding to play along, I held my head up and high, knowing that each word I spoke, every thought and emotion I would try to express could possibly just push him closer to the edge. “How does it end then Brock? What is the ending that you want?”

“You don’t know what you did to me, Dustin.” Slowly, he lifted up his injured hand and stared dully at the hard cast wrapped around it. “You don’t know the depths of despair that you drove me to and what I almost did… because you threw me away… For one brief moment, I had it… I had everything and then you took it away, you took it ALL away.. . you… you TOOK MY FUCKING LIFE AWAY FROM ME!”

Brock screamed. Behind him, Burnley laughed.

It was the most horrifying moment of my entire life. I stepped back. This was too much.

“So Dustin… to make it fair, I am going to take what I deserve. A life for a life. That is how this chapter ends, with a death.”

I almost dropped the messenger bag again. My head was telling me to turn around and just start running. Both Brock and Burnley were unarmed, I might be able to put some distance between us and get away. Save myself and find Ben. Let Burnley have Brock, he already had him subservient and submissive. Just go. My heart refused to listen to reason. It kept my feet in place and my knees from buckling. I had put Brock in this position and I couldn’t leave him here with this maniac. He might not love me anymore, but he was still a friend, no matter what, and I couldn’t leave him behind… because… he would stay for me. “So you’re going to kill me then Brock? Is that what HE wants you to do? After all we’ve been through, after everything that we’ve shared together, can you really find it within yourself to end my life? Do you hate me that much?” I waited, already knowing the answer.

“No, Dustin. You got it all wrong. I am not going to kill you. I am going to kill Benjamin, and I am going to enjoy it.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I saw Burnley’s amber eyes flash in triumph. With those words, he knew that he had won. He stepped forward from behind Brock to claim his prize, and wrapped his arms around his slender waist, pulling him in from behind and grasping at his hip bones with arching fingers. Brock kept his eyes on me, while Burnley looked away, bringing his lips down to the curve of his neck and kissed him. One of his hands slipped down around his waist and slid between Brock’s legs, groping him through the fabric of his trousers, and keeping his body tightly pressed against his own. Watching this made me feel sick, I could not believe that Brock was letting Burnley pervert his emotions and assault him like this…this was almost too much. Brock stood motionless in front of me, and I couldn’t help but to think that he was nothing more than a prisoner, trapped in the clutches of the worst predator ever, waiting to be devoured. He had a haunted look in his eyes, and I was certain that he was probably feeling the same way that I did the moment the bastard touched me. I couldn’t let this happen. Reaching up, Burnley pushed on Brock’s jaw, turning his head to face him and parted his lips, bringing them down fully onto Brock’s and forced his tongue inside, exploring the warm depths of his mouth, while allowing his other hand to start to move up and down along the front of Brock’s pants. A very quiet moan escaped Brock’s lips and the sound of it shot right through my heart. This wasn’t Burnley executing sexual torture on Brock for punishment, this was done for pleasure.

I couldn’t take anymore. This sick, twisted display had to be stopped. I knew that Brock couldn’t fight back against him; if he did there was the danger of Burnley snapping his neck. He was playing along, waiting for a moment to escape. He had to be. It couldn't be real. I needed to give Brock a moment of distraction to get away, and then he could be free of Burnley... of those lips, those hands... I threw the messenger bag down, all the contents went scattering across the floor around us. All except for one… the gun. With a steady hand I drew it out and powered it up, it was charged and ready to go at maximum setting. At this range, one shot would be all it took to completely blast through flesh and bone. I lifted my arm up, the weapon felt unusually heavy in my hand; it took all the strength in my arm to raise it up. The trembling in my hand stopped, and I stood steady and stable. I had to go through with this, I would pull the trigger and change the world, and save one life, but in the end I wouldn’t be a hero. All I would be is a killer…. And I was okay with that. It’s the easiest thing in the world. Just point, pull the trigger, and people go away. 

Taking a breath, I looked directly at Burnley. “Get your fucking hands off him.”


End file.
